On the Way to the Wedding
by stastra
Summary: Draco Malfoy is running. He shouldn't be late. Or else. DMHG. Slightly OOC, I think. Post-Hogwarts. Previously a oneshot, now a twoshot.
1. Marry Me?

**HEY THERE. :D**

**This oneshot is loosely based on Julia Quinn's On the Way to The Wedding (thus, the title?) And I loved it so much. Anyways, this is my first try of fanfiction, please be kind.**

_**DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter and all its characters are not mine. JK Rowling owns it.**_

* * *

His lungs were on fire.

Draco Malfoy was running. Through the streets of London, shoving passersby that were staring at him as if he was some sort of a madman.

Ah, maybe he is. The woman he loves is about to be married to a nut who doesn't even measure up to her intelligence, that insufferable, perfect know-it-all.

He was counting his steps but he lost track. Hell, who would want to count steps anyway? She could have said "I do." in any minute and here he is, wondering how many steps he took during the long, long run to the church.

The church.

He had to get to the church.

Before all was too late.

How long had it been? Five minutes? Ten? Thirty? He didn't know. All he knew that he must get to where she is currently being married.

The church. Why did she even accepted the proposal of that _muggle_, anyway?

It had started at eleven. This ceremony that shouldn't have even started at all. But she'd done it anyway. And he had to stop it. He had to stop her! What even did enter her mind and befuddled all of her sense and accepted to marry _him_? He had to stop her, he didn't know how, just that he has to. Merlin, he's a muggle, apparently not suited for my Hermione.

Hermione. Her name tastes like honey.

She had to know that marrying that muggle will be the biggest mistake of her life.

She was his and she knew that. She even acknowledged that. They belong together. The know-it-all turned to a fool for even interacting with that man.

How long did a wedding ceremony take? Five minutes? Ten? Thirty? An hour? Of course in Wizarding World it would only take more or less than ten minutes. All the couple has to do was bind their hands, say the spell, and forever they will be joined till death do they part. No contract was needed. Words were enough.

He skidded around the corner, bumping angry onlookers, apologizing to half of it. He even knocked a woman carrying a large case. Normally he would've stopped and help the woman, but not now. Not when he needed to stop a wedding.

The church. Across the road. The sign says stop and Draco would give anything, anything for that sign to be green. Damn this bookworm, after all. Taught him muggle manners and such, muggle laws. Muggle punishment was surely less painful than The Kiss, but it is painful still.

Damn.

The sign said go and he set off running again. It feels like his feet is being dragged back. The crossing seemed to take an hour.

He could see and smell the flowers outside the church. Lilies, her favorite. Children, street urchins outside the church seemed to be joyful but this, for Draco Malfoy, is not a happy day. It was not an event to be celebrated.

So he had to stop it.

He slowed down so he could ascend to the steps without tripping and falling flat to his face. And then he wrenched the door open, and just the sight of her made his heart drop.

She was breathtakingly beautiful, but isn't she always? Those curls that fell perfectly. That slender body. Those molten chocolate eyes that he wanted to drown into forever. She was wearing a perfect gown, a perfect veil, and this would have been the perfect wedding if it wasn't for the man she was holding hands with. _That should be me_, Draco thought with a wry smile, _and that could be fixed_.

The church went silent, the priest stopped his drone, and every spine in every pew turned to look at who interrupted their beloved's wedding.

Their eyes focused to him.

"Don't," he gasped, out of breath it was barely audible. He saw the bouquet slowly slip her hands.

"Don't," he repeated, looking at her best friends, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley, for help. "Don't do it, Hermione."

She said nothing, but her mouth was wide open with shock. And he knew, for some reason, that she stopped breathing.

"Don't do it," he said yet again, gaining speed to close the distance between them. Still she didn't speak. Her parents was as shocked as she, and her betrothed seemed to watch them as if this was an everyday scene. He really looked like he didn't mind at all.

"I love you, Hermione." He declared, and a few gasps were heard. Shortly, a few whispers followed. To Dementors with them. He would not make this a secret.

He would not let her marry the wrong man. He would not let her unless she states that he never owned her heart.

"I love you," he said again, glancing at Potty and Weaselbee—Harry and Ron—who looked at him with pity. Their wives were much the same. They knew his pain and they felt it.

"Don't do it, Hermione. Don't marry him." He begged, coming closer to her.

"Draco," she finally whispered, "Why are you doing this?"

"Have you been listening to what I had said? I love you, infuriating as you may be."

Her eyes glistened with tears. His breath caught. She looked to the man she was about to marry. He shrugged, as if saying, "It's your choice."

Draco sank to one knee. "Marry me, Hermione," he said with his heart in every word. "Marry me."

He stopped breathing. The church stopped breathing. He swore that if the whole London saw this event, they would stop breathing, too.

She closed her eyes and opened it again. They were big, they were shining, and they were full of pain.

"Marry me," He said one last time.

She opened her mouth and sighed. She closed her eyes yet again, tears evidently streaming down her face, and the next time she opened her mouth she said…

"No."

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**A/N: Poor Draco. *sighs***

**Well, I wanted it to be a happy ending but I guess I can't.**

**Do review. I accept creative criticisms. :]**

**Thank you for reading! **

**xStastrax**


	2. Sacrifice

**Hey there!**

**So I was bored today (and someone actually asked for another chapter) and decided to make a sequel...so this is now, apparently, a two-shot.**

**You know it. I do not own anything Harry Potter related.**

* * *

"_No."_

Hermione Granger, soon-to-be Hermione Mizinov, is an idiot.

For once in her whole adult life, she made the wrong decision. She refused the offer of the man she loved in front of most of the Wizarding World's most prominent people. Minerva McGonagall, Ronald Weasley, and Harry Potter for goodness' sake.

"_No."_

That word repeated in her head, over and over again. It was trying her conscience. It was droning out every last sense she had.

She glanced at the man beside her. Aleksandr Nikolaevich Mizinov, Russian aristocrat. Muggle. He was nothing close to Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Pureblood. Wizard. Gorgeous.

And that Draco Malfoy was kneeling in front of her, begging her hand for marriage.

She shot a look at Ginny Potter nee Weasley. "Do the right thing," she mouthed, sympathetic eyes at the silver-blond haired man.

He was wearing black. He was strikingly handsome whenever he wears black. He was painfully attractive, he was good and true. It was her biggest mistake to refuse.

Nikolai Mizinov, father to the groom, stood abruptly. His eyes narrowed and focused to the Slytherin Prince, then to the bride, then back to the man kneeling. "Explain, Mia." He demanded with that thick accent of his. He looked overpowering; Hermione swore that his wife cowered.

"Do not call her Mia," Draco murmured, still kneeling. "She is Hermione. She simply hates nicknames."

"Who are you to interfere, young man?" Nikolai raised his voice yet again. He charged forward, nearer and nearer to the altar, until his hands were clutching Draco's coat. "You've done more interfering enough for one day. Get out of the church or I swear I'd kill you."

"Sir," Hermione pleaded, the quiver in her voice heard well. "Unhand him. I will speak to him."

"A minute, _Mia_, and no more." He unhanded him, alright, but in a harsh way such that Draco was thrown to one of the nearest pews.

"I said no, Draco," she whispered, "Why did you keep on insisting?"

"I must be with you, Hermione," he answered, love shining in his eyes, "I must be with you, or you must be with no one at all."

"I have to do this," Hermione insisted, her heart twisting in every single word she said. _Please Draco, leave. I can't see you here and I must continue with the wedding_.

"You don't have to, you twit. You have to marry me. I will _not_ take no for an answer."

Still the prat he was, but tears filled his eyes. Half of the room sympathized with him; the other half was enraged.

_Come on, Hermione. He was asking again. You could take back your words. You could say yes. Aleksandr wouldn't mind._

Her mind battled with her heart. Truly, she did not love Aleksandr, and he did not love her as well. He was just doing the right thing.

"I really can't, Draco," she sighed at last, standing firm to her decision. "I can't and you must leave."

_One minute. When did a minute last so long?_

All hell broke loose.

Nikolai Mizinov charged forward, as did Harry and Ron with every intention to stop the Russian drunkard. Hermione's father dashed forward to move her from the melee and Aleksandr calmly took the arm of his intended's arm and said, "I will see to her."

As for Hermione, she stumbled backward, her mouth open with shock as Nikolai leaped atop Draco. "I have him!" He shouted triumphantly, only to be smacked soundly with a reticule owned by Ginny Potter.

Hermione closed her eyes.

"Isn't it the wedding you've been dreaming of?" Aleksandr murmured. Hermione shook her head, unable to utter a word. She should help Draco. Really, she should. But she felt positively drained of energy, and she was too cowardly to face him again.

What if he asked again?

What if this time, she could not resist?

"I do hope he will be able to get out from under father," Aleksandr continued, his tone as mild as ever. "The man weighs twenty stone, not that he would admit it."

Hermione turned to him, unable to believe that this man, her husband to be, was reacting ever so calmly at the riot. Even the prime minister was fending off some matron who was swatting everyone out of her way.

"I don't think, with a hat that large, that anyone could see." Her intended commented, following her gaze. She chuckled, the first sincere laugh she had after Draco _left_ her.

"Why didn't you say anything?" she asked.

"You mean while your Draco Malfoy was professing his love in front of the whole England?"

"No, while the priest was droning about the sacrament of marriage. Of course I meant _that_." Hermione snapped.

Aleksandr laughed. He couldn't help but laugh at his fiancée's fire. "I suppose I wanted to see what you would do."

What if she had said yes? What would he do?

"I am honored, by the way. And I shall be good to you, that you can't deny."

Nikolai was pulled off Draco now, and she could see both men wheezing; one from exhaustion and the other from suffocation.

Draco still struggled from Harry and Ron, determined to reach her.

"Why haven't _you_ said anything, Hermione?" Aleksandr whispered. "Why haven't you accepted the offer of your child's father?"

She stopped breathing and hoped that no one heard. "You knew." It was a statement, not a question.

"Of course I saw you throw up on the rose bushes last week. The gardener was extremely terrified."

She chuckled again. The man had a knack of making her laugh. Maybe being married to him would not be a bad thing at all, except for his foul-breathing father.

"He left me for his riches, Alek." She reasoned. "He left me because his father threatened him."

"Ah, wounded pride, then?"

The chaos started again. Draco broke from her best friends' grasps and so did Nikolai. Females were screaming, Ginny was still moaning how her reticule was beyond repair after hitting Nikolai again and again.

"Hermione! I swear I'd defy my father for you!" Draco's protest reverberated through the room. The church stilled again.

"No, Draco," she started, lifting her skirts so she could walk better. "Your father wanted what was best for you. I want that, too. You are not used to whatever may happen after being disowned. You will be impoverished, and I don't want to hear regrets from you. You deserve a great life, Draco. Having me won't do that." It was hard to lie from him. It was plausible, of course. Lucius loathed her.

He didn't seem to hear any of her words. "Let's run away, Hermione. Let's have little half-blood mini-me's or you's. Let's be happy, Hermione."

"No, Draco." She looked to his eyes. They were raw, stark, and incomprehensible. Hermione nearly stumbled to see pain in there.

"Why?"

"I just said so, you idiot."

"Why?"

"Because I had to!"

His eyes flared with emotion. It was something she could not identify.

_Because I had to_, she said. Not _Because I don't love you_.

He opened his mouth to speak, to ask her something. But it was at that moment that the three strange gentlemen managed to haul him off the church.

Hermione swallowed, blinking back the fresh tears that managed to resurface on her eyes.

"Shall we go on?" Nikolai huffed, impatience taking over.

The priest nodded and so did she, and soon enough she was proclaimed Hermione Jean Mizinov, married woman. Officially a muggle.

"Congratulations, Hermione," Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Lavender greeted. Their eyes were much like hers, bleak. They know her pain. They knew why she had to.

She nodded her thanks and went to the restroom. She immediately placed her hand on her abdomen, closing her eyes just to feel the life growing there. The life she and Draco made.

_I'm sorry, Lyra, _she thought, knowing that her child is a girl. _I'm sorry but I had to._

It was just then that she let her pain overcome all other emotions.

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**So. Sorry to end it that way but I'm pretty sure I can't make another chapter now. College will start in a few days. MY CREYS.**

**Anyways, hope you liked this one just like you liked the other. So sorry to make it all bitter and depressing, though.**

**Thank you for reviewing, for those who reviewed. :]**

**Do review if you want to. Tell me that Hermione should've said yes.**

**And oh, thank you for the correction, madhatterz. I'm pretty sure people would most likely be confused about that. :]**

**xStastrax**


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